White River Township Fire Protection District

Board Meeting Minutes

October 6, 2005

 

District Board Members Present:

Dr. Chuck Shufflebarger

Butch Sutton

Jim Dodson

Paul Kite

 

White River Twp Fire Department Employees Present:

Chief Tibbetts

Chief Cassin

Chief Brown

Jackie Emmons

Chad Witham

 

Others Present:

Dudley Senefeld

Scott Senefeld

Steve Dyson

Tricia Leminger

                                                                                                                                

 

 

Dr. Chuck Shufflebarger called the meeting to order at 7 p.m.

 

 

        I.      Approval of Minutes from the September Meeting

A.     Accepted with a motion by Butch Sutton and 2nd by Paul Kite, all in favor and motion carries.

 

      II.      Financial Update

A.     Dr. Shufflebarger said for everyone to take time to look over the financial update provided (please see attached).

 

    III.      Old Business

A.     Station 51 Project update

                                                              i.            Scott Senefeld gave an update on the station project and passed out copies of the plans to update us on their process.

                                                            ii.            The first portion of the documents is civil engineering.

                                                          iii.            The second portion is the floor plans.

                                                           iv.            There will be a meeting on Oct 11, 2005 at headquarters with the WRTFD building committee and they will be discussing phone data outlets, TV outlets, actually to refine the process, etc.

                                                             v.            Scott Senefeld said they will present a new cost estimate update but will stay within the budget planned.

                                                           vi.            The only real change is the vestibule for the front door.

                                                         vii.            Mr. Senefeld confirmed to Jim Dodson that the showers were at least 7 ft high for clearance.

                                                       viii.            The restroom on the first floor is the only handicapped/public restroom.

                                                           ix.            Tricia spoke about the loans for the two stations loans and they have not been issued.  Tricia has sent a follow up letter and made a phone call.  Tricia said they have 90 days and we are about 45 days into it, which puts the deadline around Thanksgiving.

B.     Station 52 Project update

                                                              i.            Scott Senefeld passed out the Project Schedule Outline and a copy of the plans.

                                                            ii.            We may want to go to a masonry water table and cement board lap siding to save money.

                                                          iii.            Scott Senefeld passed out a schedule for Station #52 (Building Addition Project).

                                                           iv.            Chief Cassin would like the siding brought around the side of the building so it looks uniform.

                                                             v.            Mr. Senefeld said the 1st estimate of the true cost of $150,000 was about 10% over budget and was the reason for removing the brick.

                                                           vi.            Dr. Shufflebarger said we need to reset a hard limit on the budget.

                                                         vii.            Tricia said once it goes over $150,000 we have to have a common construction wage committee and we have done that already.

                                                       viii.            Scott Senefeld said an allowance is in the budget just in case something would come up that was to be more costly.

                                                           ix.            Jim Dodson made a motion to set a hard budget at $165,000 Paul Kite 2nd and all in favor carried motion.

C.    Fire Protection Ordinance update

                                                              i.            Chief Tibbetts said we have not heard anything yet and we have to submit it to the other entities in the county.  Chief Brown was not at the meeting at that time to comment, however he did arrive at 8:11 pm.

                                                            ii.            Chief Tibbetts said there is such a difference in the departments such as Needham, etc. it is difficult to compare, but that we need to get their opinions on the process and we are still driving it.

                                                          iii.            Chief Brown is the driving force behind the standards we set.

                                                           iv.            Dr. Shufflebarger said this is off the agenda and will only be brought back if there are additional issues.

D.    Benefits Sub-Committee update

                                                              i.            Steve Dyson made a Compensation Comparison of salaries, PERF, clothing, Paramedic, Insurance – Employee Contribution, Dental and Life Insurance.  The information relayed coincided with what was compiled by the Salary and Benefits Committee earlier this year. Please refer to the file.

                                                            ii.            Steve said we compare well already with other departments and remain around the 51st percentile in all categories compared.

                                                          iii.            The contribution is decided annually.

E.     Evaluation Sub-Committee update

                                                              i.            Please see file for document Butch Sutton passed out (Evaluation Sub-Committee) and (Fire Chief) and (Deputy Chief).

                                                            ii.            Suggestion is to form a committee consisting of Chief Slauter, Chief Thacker, and a Captain (of our choice) and one of the Board Members needs to sit in on a meeting.

                                                          iii.            The committee should change people from time to time and an executive session needs to be scheduled.

                                                           iv.            Test it and reevaluate the system in 6 months because we are the ones that are creating this evaluation process.

                                                             v.            The board members presence would be as a facilitator of the process not an evaluator.

F.     Other Old Business

                                                              i.            Tricia said an update on the contracts was sent to the Senefeld’s office and there is a question about the scope of services.

                                                            ii.            The contracts are not ready for execution.

                                                          iii.            Brian Bosma and Dudley Senefeld need to remove some wording.

                                                           iv.            Butch and Dr. Shufflebarger said Brian Bosma had understood that this (Station 52) was a $250,000 dollar project according to the Senefelds. 

                                                             v.            Dr. Shufflebarger said we need to be clear to the building committee to keep it within a certain cost, so the building fits the dollar amount. 

                                                           vi.            We need to stay with the Senefeld’s and keep control of the dollar amount.

                                                         vii.            Steve Dyson said at the last meeting there was a discussion about the property from Josh McCarty and we could sell the land and keep the proceeds in our general fund.

                                                       viii.            Chief Brown said we should have our piece of the property first.

 

   IV.      New Business

A.     Strategic Plan

                                                              i.            Chief Tibbetts said that interstate (I69) going in is still on target and they have given the plans to INDOT.  The interchange will take Station 53 out and we will need a location for another station.

                                                            ii.            We should have two new stations one up north and on south so it splits them out.

B.     Ambulance Service

                                                              i.            Lt. Hart has been collecting data on the amount of runs and how many people are paying customers.

                                                            ii.            Franklin has an ambulance service and they make money off of the runs. 

                                                          iii.            Rural Metro has escalated prices and we would set a flat fee to charge the public. 

                                                           iv.            Dr. Shufflebarger said we need to set a flat fee and have quality care.

                                                             v.            We would still need Rural Metro for backup.

                                                           vi.            The question being, how could we meld the EMS service for rural metro and our ambulance?

                                                         vii.            The response time with one ambulance is not good, so we need two ambulances so we have a back up. 

                                                       viii.            Chief Cassin suggested that the last ˝ hour to an hour of each meeting from this point on could be discussing the various Strategic Plan initiatives.

     V.      Adjournment

A.     Meeting adjourned at 8:32   p.m. by Dr. Chuck Shufflebarger.

 

 

Next meeting will be Tuesday, November 1, 2005 at 7 p.m.

 

Minutes submitted by Jackie Emmons, Receptionist